Miserable living with ashes and dust

Updated date: 04/14/2025 10:48:05

DTO - Many residents of Hamlet 4, Doc Binh Kieu Commune, Thap Muoi District, said that recently, a rice drying and milling facility on the other side of the river has been operating, causing environmental pollution, making people's lives extremely miserable...

About 3-4 pm every day, the ash and dust suction facility discharges directly into the environment, causing pollution and affecting people's lives.

This rice drying facility in Hau My Bac B commune, Cai Be district, Tien Giang province was built by Chon Chinh Import-Export Company Limited and has been operating for more than 10 years. Accordingly, dozens of households living around this facility, including many households in Dong Thap province living across a river from the facility, have to regularly endure noise pollution and dust pollution from the facility's rice drying stages.

According to local people, the rice drying facility continuously releases dust all day long. For over a year now, this facility has also built a chimney about 30 - 40m high to suck all the dust and ash directly into the environment. This amount of dust and ash sticks directly to people's houses and fields, especially in the sunny months, the dust and smoke combined with the hot weather makes the people here extremely uncomfortable...

Faced with this incident, people have reported it to the local authorities, requesting a solution, but this situation still occurs, even causing more pollution...

Mr. Nguyen Van Kheo in Hamlet 4, Doc Binh Kieu Commune, Thap Muoi District, was upset: “The facility has been causing dust for over 10 years. Because of our neighborly ties, we only asked for a fix, but the owner of the facility has no intention of fixing it. For over a year now, they have also built a chimney that discharges ash and dust directly into our house, causing increasingly serious frustration. We hope that the government will soon take measures to intervene and end this situation, requiring the rice drying facility to lower the chimney and not discharge ash and dust into the environment...”.

Sharing the same frustration, Mr. Dang Van Hoang, a resident in the hamlet, added: “Since the factory started operating, the lives of my family and the people in the hamlet have been completely turned upside down. Every time the factory starts operating, rice husk dust flies everywhere. The house is always covered with a thick layer of dust, and cleaning all day is not enough. Food and drinks must be covered tightly, and clothes dried in the yard are covered with dust after a short time. The worst are the children and the elderly, who inhale a lot of dust and often have coughs, asthma, and sore throats.”

Every house around the facility has curtains to prevent dust and smoke.

Mr. Hoang said that his family had reported the situation to the local authorities many times, but the situation had not improved significantly. The factory was still operating, and dust was still flying everywhere. People felt helpless and extremely tired; they hoped the authorities would take stronger measures.

Through our observations, the area where the residents reported that the drying factory was operating, the current dust pollution situation was extremely serious. Although the whole neighborhood used curtains to cover it, ash and dust still crept into all the household items, and the trees were covered with white dust...

Mr. Hua Thai Ngoc - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thap Muoi district, said: "This factory is located in Cai Be district, Tien Giang province, the locality has forwarded the people's complaint to Tien Giang province requesting coordination to resolve. On the district side, we have established an inspection team, prepared a dossier and requested Chon Chinh Import Export Company Limited to find a solution. The district will continue to monitor and supervise the company's remediation to have the next steps...".

The living environment is the top priority, but the dust pollution from the Chon Chinh rice drying factory is causing misery for the people. The local government needs to urgently intervene, find fundamental solutions, closely monitor and strictly handle violations to restore a clean environment and a peaceful life for the people here.

Thao Vy

Source: https://baodongthap.vn/xa-hoi/kho-so-vi-song-chung-voi-tro-bui-130676.aspx